This present device relates to an External Filtering and Absorbing Device for Use in a Local Containment Area. Use of the present device can stop evasive aquatic nonindigenous species, invasive aquatic plant life, other solids, and oil that is present in ship ballast and bilge water from harming coastal, lake and other waters by filtering the ship ballast and bilge discharge using an external filtering device above the ambient water and using absorbing materials to absorb oil in the discharge after it is filtered. Because of the versatility of the device created by having a local containment right at the source of the discharge, water sampling can be obtained right at the outlet before the water hits the filter and/or after the water has been filtered to give quantitative and qualitative evidence of the content of the discharge.
The problem of evasive aquatic nonindigenous species being spread by ship ballast and bilge water is huge. “According to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Admiral Ronald F. Silva, “The problem of invasive species is the highest priority marine environmental issue for the U.S. Coast Guard.” He adds that while the problem is certainly not confined to the Ninth District (the Great Lakes), the area—being a source of drinking water for 37 million North Americans—potentially has the most at stake in this regard.” (Joseph Keefe, “Ballast Water Management:Industry Leading the Way,” Maritime Executive, September 2007, p. 36.)
The high financial cost of the harm of Aquatic Nonindigenous Species is stated in The Federal Register 44644/Vol. 74, No. 166/Friday, Aug. 28, 2009 quoting Pimentel, D. et al., 2005. “Update on the environmental and economic costs associated with alien-invasive species in the United States,” Ecological Economics. 52:273-288: